


Birthdays

by chockie



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Angst, Crack, Crossdressing, Future, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 09:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11460978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chockie/pseuds/chockie
Summary: Yosuke's birthdays with the boy(s).





	1. Please Come Home Soon

**Author's Note:**

> Yosuke's 30th birthday arrives. Souji tried his best.
> 
> based on what a senpai posted:  
> "the partners become partner partners and live happily together (post college for seta) for about 5 years. Yosuke’s 30th birthday is coming around, he’s having an average job with average pay and an average amount of free time. Seta has a well-paying psychiologist job, teaches, feeds the cats and has some smaller jobs on the side. He stands for most of the income, has little to no free time and still cooks most of the meals (although Hanamura attempts to talk him out of it.)
> 
> They have a nice, homey, rather cheap apartment on the outskirts of some town. They have five cats. And seta ends up burning himself out, just crashing one day. Doesn’t get out of bed, only stares at the wall, doesn’t even shave.
> 
> I feel like such a large sadist."

He was listening to his music, turned up a little too loud. Loud enough of a change that the other silent figures in the train car that shared Yosuke’s commute looked up and held eye contact with him for more than the standard half-second. The office lady, Naganohara-san, the one who got on the train two stops after his own, had the audacity to even make some feeble attempt at conversation. Or, it couldn’t really be called conversation- more along the lines of a polite inquiry of health.

“Are you all right, Hanamura-san?" 

He didn’t hear her the first time. He slung his headphones around his neck and paused the song- the third song on the playlist Souji had put together for him for their last anniversary which had passed just as quietly as every other year’s and just as satisfyingly and there was  _nothin_ _g_  wrong with that because nothing was wrong- and had to raise his eyebrows for an instant at the realization that the music was not just playing, but blaring. 

"Sorry. Uh, about the music, and that. I didn’t hear you. Pardon?”

“Are you all right?” The note of concern was all too eerily familiar to the man, because Yosuke had used it practically every day coupled with a gentle inquiry about work and a certain somebody’s day, only to be shot down every time.  _I’m tired_ , and that weary, wan,  _exhausted_  smile that made him want to simultaneously throw his arms around him and step back for fear of snapping his weak-looking body in half.  _God, I_ -

“Oh. Hi. Uh, yeah. Sorry, Naganohara-san. I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” Before she could respond, the headphones that  _Souji_  had bought to replace his tattered ones that only worked in one side for his last birthday were back on his head, the music playing once more, and his gaze directed at the blur of empty streets and deserted roads shrouded in the late night. Even in the wee hours, there were still the three of them in this car, always, six days a week. It was almost companionable, but they were only acquaintances. 

She had no right to ask, really. It was so… out-there, that wasn’t something people did. Especially considering what their relationship was- quite literally strangers only familiar because of the same route to work?- it was simply absurd. 

What would she know about his personal life?

About Souji’s… Souji’s? What was happening to Seta?

Souji Seta. It wasn’t really a descent, considering his partner was more successful than he ever would– an accomplished psychologist and during his off-time, an accomplished professor and teacher. He was a pillar of support to everyone he knew, including Yosuke. 

Yosuke allowed himself to feel a little bit of envy, the envy that never really got fully knocked out of him all of those years ago, on the riverbank of the Samegawa. When they realized what they had. Their partnership. 

 _Souji_  was so perfect, and  _Souji_ was so dependable. 

 _Souji_  was loyal, and a great listener, and a supportive friend, and he was just… infallible. 

Sometimes he didn’t know what that bowlcut idiot saw in him. Some dead end office worker. He was unstable. In high school, he came crying to Souji about something or other. He sent long-winded rants via text message in his stupid, unreadable text lingo and he fawned and he wobbled and he swung from emotion to emotion even though he, Yosuke Hanamura, was just about the most average and boring person in the world and he  _just didn’t know how Seta fucking did it._  How he coped with Yosuke. 

That stoic face, the corners of his lips turning upwards only for select moments and Yosuke. His stone-like composure… It was incredible. He had maintained it for years, and the only person to witness it ever crack in the least had been himself, and Yosuke. 

He had to take a moment to consider himself privileged in that facet. To get a chance to help the seemingly unfaze-able would be incredible, if only Souji would let him near.

Yeah, no. He wasn’t ‘privileged’ at all. If anything, it was an extra burden. (He felt a tiny flare of anger in his chest at that.) They were partners, weren’t they? They had been through thick and thin, they had solved a fucking case of  _murders_  for christ’s sake, they had had near death experiences, they had so many memories together, they were still  _partners_ , they had always been partners, so why didn’t Souji fucking let him close enough to help him?

Something  _was wrong_ , flashed through Yosuke’s head as he stepped off onto the train platform alone and took the stairs down to street level since the escalators weren’t functional at this hour. 

_Something was definitely wrong if I didn’t have to actually offer help for once._

His frown was still fixed on his face as the elevator  _ding_ -ed quietly on their floor and he opened the door to their apartment, closing, locking and bolting it behind him. He slipped his shoes off, socked feet padding gently on their polished wood floor.

It was a bit shinier than it usually was. One of the messages in that odd flurry of texts said that he had come back early, so that had probably been Souji’s doing… obviously. Yosuke couldn’t see himself ever doing something as… 'Souji’ as polishing the fucking floors. He almost laughed. 

As he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, he wandered into the kitchen in search of a beer, at the same time slowly putting together a play-by-play fantasy of what Souji had been doing during his very out-of-character sick leave for the day, whiling away the afternoon hours by washing the dishes, playing with the cats, reading one of his weird trashy romance novels, grading papers, water their balcony plants or some other shit. When he opened the fridge and bent down to get to the lower shelves, he realized he had forgotten something in his little play-by-play when he was met face to face with a plastic wrapped plate of [omelette rice, the ketchup arranged in a little drawing of a cat](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eslblogcafe.com%2Fskr%2Fjasper11380%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F11%2Fomurice006.jpg&t=MzM0OTFlMWY0NTc2Nzk5NDgwMWI0YmM4NmU0ZjEwNzllZjE3NWJkNix6VmVUanZuaw%3D%3D&b=t%3AASk_nEY94DugriqBY08ZjA&p=http%3A%2F%2Ftrashcanchockie.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F94621963822%2Fcaitric-caitric-also-caitric-dude-caitric-to&m=1), because of course it was. The note, always carefully written and placed on top of the meal, this time read,

> _Partner,_
> 
> _Know you’re coming back late today, it’s okay. Made this for you. Going to take a nap now, really tired. Sorry. Wake me up when you’re back. I hope you like it._
> 
> _Love you. Happy birthday._

Yosuke swallowed and fingered his headphones. Certainly, Souji took naps, albeit once in a blue moon, but he didn’t do something like admit he was “really tired”. That was weird. Something was up, and he felt something hitch in his chest, his heart jump a tiny bit. He took the cold plate into his hands and felt a shiver run down his spine at the contact momentarily. 

Stepping out of the their small kitchenette with a fork in his hand, he began to make his way to their small living area, only to be stopped at the rather ominous shadow silhouetted in the doorway of their bedroom. He felt the hair on his neck rise, and this time it wasn’t from the coldness from his plate. The figure stood still, teetering just a little, and Yosuke found his eyes tracking every tiny movement. Then it took a step forward, far forward enough for his face and figure to be lit by the long ray of moonlight cast by their tall windows and their eyes met for a fraction of a second and that was all it took for Yosuke to see that something was off in those beautiful grey eyes he had stared down every day. 

“Souji, are you–?”

A clumsy step forward, and almost like he was in slow motion, the figure began to fall forward. 

“Sou–”

Instinct made him step forward in time just enough to catch him as he fell, his feet tangling up in each other. 

“…–ji?”

The face he was met with, gazing up at him demurely with eyes half lidded and (hopefully) sleep-drool to be wiped trickling from the corner of his mouth, was so out of character and… terrifying, Yosuke felt his arms that were supporting the bizarrely weak body (only bizarre because he had only once felt Souji as limp as this, and that was when they still went into the TV) of his partner shake just a little. 

“Please…?” came the faintest whisper from his barely parted lips. 

_He’s obviously incapacitated. What the fuck happened?_

“Yoooooo–”

Yosuke struggled to lift the solid mass, elbows bent under Souji’s armpits. 

“–suuuuuuukkeeeee…”

To hear him whine like that made him stop trying to lift Souji to his feet and freeze. It made his pulse race, it made his shoulders tighten, and he found himself gazing back into those eyes once more. 

“I’m al _-”_

Then the weight became a dead weight, all of a sudden, and Souji’s body became lifeless, more limp than before. The man, still in his work clothes, his tie still only half undone, felt his heart stop. Then his actions were clockwork, he was dragging Souji to the sofa, taking care to make sure his feet dragged as little as possible into their little living area and placing him gently, though briskly, onto it. Locked inside his own head, watching through his own eyes, Yosuke saw his left hand clumsily fumble out his mobile phone and attempt unsuccessfully to slide it open twice, the chime of his phone coming to life echoey as he played spectator to his body’s actions. His right hand brought Souji’s limp wrist to rest on his chest and then quickly passed it in front of his nostrils. 

Like time slowed again, he watched his trembling hand remain in place in front of Souji’s disarmingly calm face, and then he felt a cool exhalation of air on the back of his hand and then sensations and senses came back to life because whatever the fuck happened,  _Souji_  was not dead, thank  _fucking god_ , and Yosuke almost doubled over in relief and he rested his forehead on his still warm chest and felt his still beating heart and felt tears beginning to form in the corner of his eyes, but he squeezed them shut before he did and resigned himself to being content to listen to his partner’s breathing, steadily, in, out, in out, in and…

•

_Sent at 12:57 PM, Yesterday_

_Seta Souji_

> _came back early from work today sorry_

_1:09 PM._

> _Sorry for bothering you. I know you’re coming back late, so don’t worry about me._

_1:53 PM._

> _Really._

_4:34 PM._

> _please come home soon,_

_Sent at 6:40 PM, Yesterday_

_Hanamura Yosuke_

> _hey whats up? sry i didnt respond i only got 2 my break now_

_6:52 PM._

> _partner?_

_Received: 6:52 PM | 6/22_


	2. Surprised

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not a continuation of the last one, but it's a bit too short to make its own fic hahaha  
> or it very well could be "canon" in the same universe as the last, who knows

He had to consciously stop himself from pushing his headphones on- he would already have done so, in fact, if his hands weren’t preoccupied with keeping him balanced on the back of his partner’s bike, wrapped snugly around Souji Seta’s waist. It was oddly warm. 

 

The sound of Kanji’s frantic pedalling not far behind them filled the silence, which wasn’t exactly awkward. More amiable, if anything, heading downtown for a boy’s night out… Perhaps he should try to say something. The occasion was  _his_  birthday, after all… But that was all the tip-off his two friends had given him before whisking him away out of his house and plopping him into the backseat of his partner’s bike. Something had him feeling uneasy in the pit of his stomach about the air of mystery about the whole situation, especially that strange wordless exchange of smiles between Souji and his parents, but here they were. The three of them riding along the side of the road by the riverbank as the late afternoon sun set, supposedly going down to Okina. 

Yosuke straightened on the rather uncomfortable bike seat and his arms involuntarily shifted up, to Souji’s midsection. He felt heat race across his cheeks and hoped that if Souji had noticed the sudden tightening of his hands’ grip on his chest, he wouldn’t pass any comment. He cleared his throat and eased into a nervous laugh. 

“Ah… so, where exactly did you guys have in mind? We’ve been going for, like, twenty minutes. Also, you’ve been pretty careful to take detours on the way. Frankly, guys, I’m kinda worried.” He smiled a lopsided smile and turned his head to watch the buff lowerclassman work to keep up with Souji’s impossibly smooth cycling. 

“S-senpai,” came the reply between heaves. “S'a surprise, remember?" 

 _Another question unanswered,_  thought Yosuke,  _is just two more raised._ He was exasperated, but curiously excited. It had to be a thing for his birthday, obviously, or they wouldn’t have yanked him in the middle of a lazy Sunday afternoon right before summer vacation started…unless… unless?

_Guys’ night out, perhaps?_

Again, his grip tightened on Souji’s polo shirt, the cotton fabric bunching up between his fingers. He could feel the usually stoic boy tighten himself, biting his lip but never taking his eyes off the dirt path they were still cycling down. He had to admit that the longer they cycled for (and they had certainly been going for a long time) the  _farther_  they seemed to be from Okina. They were still in the quieter parts of the suburbs, buildings scattered with enough frequency to be livable and yet-

One building loomed before them, growing larger as they finally approached their destination. 

_Y-Yasoinaba Municipal Hospital?!_

"Hey, uh…” And the determined look that formed on Souji’s face was enough to terrify him into silence. 

“Is everything okay? Nobody’s hurt or anything, right?”

“No.” The first word he had spoken since picking him up. “Everything’s fine.” In one motion, Souji put one foot on the ground and yanked the brakes, the bicycle coming to a smooth halt, sliding into the bike parking space in the lot outside the hospital. Kanji was right behind them, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and skittering into the space next to theirs. 

“C'mon, Yosuke-senpai.”

“Partner?” Yosuke found himself tugging at his collar, his two friends a few steps ahead. 

“It’ll be fine.”

The look in Souji’s grey eyes was reassuring… and also disturbing. He let himself be led through the clear sliding doors, and obliged when Kanji asked him to close his eyes. He did find himself- jokingly, of course- protesting when both Souji and Kanji grabbed his wrists, pretended to be offended when they sat him down in some room and told him to keep his eyes closed, but his jokes were quickly silenced at what he was greeted with when he was allowed to open his eyes again.

The room was softly lit, colored shapes projected and slowly moving around the room from a light in the corner. A tray for medical tools had been cleared for drinks with a bowl of punch and enough cups to hint at more party guests, balloons placed strategically around the space, and he only just realized how cool the room was, but one thing was the most prominent. 

Or, rather, two things- two people whom he recognized as Souji and Kanji, but only from the crossdressing pageant  _that one time_ , only in nurse outfits. Both had one end of a banner reading ’ _Happy Birthday, Yosuke!_ “ in one hand, the other hand making a peace sign. It was so bizarre he almost found himself laughing, but his jaw was hanging too far for him to do much more than make a strangled choking sound. 

"I know how much you like nurses, Yosuke. We-”

“Wasn’t my idea, senpai!" 

” _-I_  thought you would like a, ah… ‘themed’ party.“ 

Souji’s face was expressionless as it tended to be, but Yosuke knew to look into his eyes for that flash of mischief that always surprised him, and he found it.  _He must be getting a huge kick out of this…. Weirdo._

"I- I’m really, uh… flattered." 

His voice hitched, despite his best efforts to keep himself cool, that blush from the bike ride was nothing compared to how he felt now. 

"Only flattered?” One of the 'nurses’ dropped an end of the banner, then the other followed suit. The difference between them was in what followed, however, when Souji began to step forward and Kanji seemed to be itching backwards, clearly suppressing a look of abject terror. 

“Oh, Yosuke-” in a falsetto voice that was so ridiculous, combined with the huddled form of the sweating Kanji behind him was enough to tip him over, and his shoulders eased, the tension left his face, and he began to laugh. Hearty guffaws that could probably be heard from the other hospital rooms, but he didn’t care- the sheer gravity of his “birthday party” (and he used the term in its most loosest sense) was so ridiculous, so out-there, he couldn’t help it. 

All too soon, his best friend had his hand in his lap- resting on his thigh (!!!)- and was kneeling before him, a look with something Yosuke simply couldn’t read staring up at him. 

“The others will be here soon… We made sure they would give us a little time.”

 _He shaved his arms and legs just for this, probably_ , the flustered Yosuke found himself thinking.  _Really put a lot into this. Typical partner._

Then that hand that had been idling on his right thigh began to slide downwards, and his breath hitched again. 

_Oh, fuck, this is messed up._

Despite himself, he was admiring how the uniform hugged Souji’s body, outlining the midsection and waist and legs that weren’t exactly buff, but wasn’t quite chubby or skinny either. Enough meat to be healthy, but nowhere near overkill. 

He swallowed, then watched the other boy do the same. 

_He’s nervous too._


End file.
